AWE is a collaboration between Catherine Conlin and Konstantine Baranov who met in December 2008 and within a few months had recorded over thirty pieces of new material.

Baranov, after meeting Conlin, quicky assessed their talents and had a concept to pair Conlin's spontaneous lyrics with selected tracks from his solo cds (11), previous minus one mixes (KGK) and their joint instrumental tracks.

Most of the pieces on this cd are first takes with Conlin never having heard the material before. The subject matter ranges from moving mountains, to existentialist questions:

"Shadows are an inevitable part of light or are they the absence of light, or is light the absence of shadow and shadow the negative space of light?"

The artists backgrounds could not be more disparate. Moscow born Baranov played in avant garde bands (Moscow--Copernicus, Alliance, The Keepers, Stereotypes, Timezone; US-- The Earthlings, Inflato, and Life Copies Movies) which played to mostly large audiences in concert halls and stadiums.

Conlin, although having had early classical training, did not pick up a guitar until she was 30 and started her own band (Bedtime Story) with other musicians who had little or no background in music performance.

Baranov's structure and experience matches elegantly with Conlin's intrepid nature which leans towards a more improvisational style, having been a poet and practicing free-form writing for many years.

Awe is dreamy, moody, lulling in its quietude. People have compared the work to Laurie Anderson, Mazzy Star, Cowboy Junkies and Cocteau Twins and Portishead. The music is a unique ballad-like collection of stories expressing the artists' AWE with the world around them.


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